Einarshúsið

Visiting Bolungarvík - Eating at the end of the world

May contain traces of advertising.*

When we were in Ísafjörður for a few days on summer vacation, we also took a day trip to Bolungarvík. This is a place with around 900 inhabitants at the end of the Ísafjarðardjúp - and actually pretty much at the end of the world. The road doesn't end here, but beyond it there is only a radar station on Mount Bolafjall and some abandoned farms. We went there to look at the Bolafjall and the small fishing museum Ósvör.

From the avalanche protection wall you have a very nice overview of the place.

The port of Bolungarvík was still busy in the early evening, with goods being loaded, including the fresh fish that had just been landed.

Also right on the harbor is "Einarshúsið", a hotel and restaurant that also hosts local cultural events, from musical performances to game nights, as I understand it.

The restaurant was completely empty when we arrived - although we arrived quite early. There was no one to be seen in the kitchen either, although the sounds of life could be heard. When we called, someone who had been expecting us finally came.

View of the hotel's breakfast room

The inside of the restaurant was nicely decorated, with lots of old family photographs printed on large plexiglass panels, and the turquoise painted wooden walls almost made me feel at home.

Food blogger at work

When choosing drinks on the menu, my husband chose the “Engiferöl”, i.e. the ginger beer. Despite the name, it is a non-alcoholic, carbonated lemonade that tastes very intensely of ginger.

For the main course we chose - in typical Icelandic style - hamburgers and "fish of the day". The menu was exclusively in Icelandic, but we can now read menus well in Icelandic and the waitress also translated directly.

The house-style hamburger "Víkarinn" was with fried egg, cucumber, tomatoes and bacon as well as Bernaise sauce, with fries ("franskar kartöflur") and a pot of ready-made cocktail sauce.

The "fish of the day" was cod, as our waitress explained to us, freshly landed daily at the port of Bolungarvík according to the menu. There was also fresh salad and potatoes. The salad was good and tasted really fruity with the orange pieces in it. The sauce also had a fruity note.

All in all, I would describe the food we had at Einarshúsið as Icelandic home cooking.

At a glance:

The menu at Einarshúsið is relatively small, you can choose between the hamburger or the soup of the day with home-baked bread for around 1,950 ISK each (around €16.60 - as of July 2018), which is cheap for the restaurant by Icelandic standards. The vegan dish of the day costs 2,900 ISK (around €23), the “fish of the day” costs 3,900 ISK (around €31).

For children there is baked toast or nuggets (each with fries) for 1,390 ISK (a good €11), a small portion of "fish of the day" for 1,490 ISK (just under €12) or just fries with cocktail sauce for 500 ISK ( approx. 4 €).

Under the heading "Eitthvað sæt" (= "Something sweet") you can find a piece of cake or waffles with ice cream for 890 ISK each (just under €7.20).

Soft drinks, ginger beer and hot drinks cost between 350 and 450 ISK (approx. €2.80 to €3.60).

* Legal notice:

Technically speaking, this is advertising because we were invited to dinner. But we only went to restaurants and bars that we had previously heard good things about. When we burst into hymns of praise, we really mean it.


[Translated from here.]